WESTPORT TASKFORCE —
CONTAINER PORT — PINK SNAPPER
809. Hon RICK MAZZA to the minister representing the
Minister for Fisheries:
I
refer to the government recently endorsing the Westport Taskforce's
recommended location and design for a future container port in Kwinana
and announcing that the operation of the port will commence in 2032.
Considering that Cockburn Sound hosts the largest known spawning aggregations
of pink snapper in the west coast bioregion, which are critical to sustaining
adequate breeding stocks, I ask the following.
(1) What research
has the government undertaken on the impacts of the construction and operation
of Westport on the pink snapper spawning grounds that will be impacted by the
proposed port development?
(2) If the government
has conducted research into the impacts of the port on the vital pink snapper
spawning grounds, will the government table that report?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
The following answer has been provided by the Minister for Fisheries, but I do
comment that we take these issues extremely seriously.
(1) The
environmental work that was undertaken by the Westport Taskforce as part of its
stages 1 and 2, including option
identification and multi-criteria assessment, was overseen by an environmental
workstream chaired by the Department of Water and Environmental
Regulation, with membership including the Western Australian Marine Science
Institution, Recfishwest, the Cockburn Sound Management Council, the City of Cockburn,
and Perth NRM. This group identified the impact of port development on marine
flora and fauna as one of the key issues that will need to be addressed in more
detail, and the shortlist of options was developed with these environmental
concerns in mind.
The
Westport Taskforce commissioned a study by BMT Group on hydrodynamics within
Cockburn Sound and an environmental
risk assessment by WAMSI. A summary of the hydrodynamic modelling undertaken
and the dredging volume estimates is
included within the ''Westport Future Port Recommendations Stage 2
Report''. The McGowan government is investing $29.5 million as part of
the next stage of Westport for environmental studies, modelling, impact
assessment and mitigation. This will include a specific research program into
pink snapper, a greater understanding of the impacts of port development on
pink snapper and investigations into a range of resilience-building
opportunities with the aim of increasing the overall resilience of the Cockburn
Sound ecosystem. Development of a new port will be subject to a full and
rigorous environmental approval process.
(2) The two
studies referenced in the answer to (1) will inform the next stage of
environmental analysis. We will review the documents with a view to tabling
them.